Monday, 20 March 2017

Oldnithopter!

My to do list is simply overwhelming. I hope I'm not alone and this is the story of many of you too. In fact I have come to consider the lead mountain as a must for any self respected geek like us :D

Yeah, I know, I'm still trying to convince myself of that :D

Anyway. Many moons ago, drooling over pics of the Bring Out Your Lead 2016 event I spotted a sweet piece of art. There are many places where to know about BOYL, the Oldhammer Forum
being the most obvious one, but I'm giving you this link too as it's
where I saw what I am going to talk about right now.

I saw what appeared to be an Ornithopter of unknown origins. What was that, was it scratch, was it manufactured? I wanted one! A few weeks later I happily discovered that mighty Curtis, the mastermind behind Ramshackle Games, was the one to produce it, though at the moment it still was a prototype. Being such a gentleman as he is, Curtis offered me the chance of getting a model, bearing in mind that it still wasn't the definite product and that I may need to do some additional work about the wings. He made it all as easy as anyone could imagine and I finally got a gorgeous Ornithopter. Thank you, Curtis!!
I've recently learnt that the master is from Scalene's talented hands! My bad, I missed that info last summer! Please check his blog!

But you know how things happen. The lead mountain, RealLifetm, lots of stuff to be done... Ahhh, it hasn't been until now that I'm ready to show what I've been able to do with the model!

Time for a pic!

Well, OK, step by step. Assembling the kit was easier than expected (when I first saw all the pieces I gasped in shock!). Pretty intuitive, trust me. I left the wings aside for the moment and, focusing on the hull, I primed it all white and begun to explore this path:

Looks like a weird insectoid space ambulance!

I wanted it to be light coloured, nothing too dark. It deserved to be eye-catching. However, white was... well, too much. After considering creams/greys/beiges, I stuck to the original white idea, but with a heavy weathering work. Making it look gritty and dirty would speak by itself about the Ornithopter's own story. It would give it its own personality and would of course say Rogue Trader like no other colour or effect could achieve.

Now we are talking

I love how it looks. I loved it even in this state, without wings. The lines, the whole concept screams Old School. I think it's pointless to add anything else. You love it or don't.

The wings proved themselves tricky indeed. They need some kind of frame, as the acetate won't stay stiff and the wings would look weirdly sad, falling at both sides :P

All my experiments using wire failed miserably. Either I didn't get the acetate glued properly to the wire or couldn't get any of the structures I built for the wings support their own weight, as the contact surface with the hull itself was way too small. Drilling the resin piece looked dangerous to me, at the risk of totally breaking it.

I then came with an unexpected solution. I had been obsessed with a minimalist approach, using wire so the eye couldn't see any frame at tabletop distance. But for once... more is more! I changed my mind and produced frames made of thin BBQ sticks. Once painted black and glued under the wings, they were hard to see (they are obviously visible, but it's enough at tabletop distance). The frames were solid, no glue issues with the acetate and they were easier to glue to the hull too, using a couple of glueing points for each wing.

A compromise solution between the desirable and my skills

I had to discard any magnet approach for storaging purposes (as I originally had in mind) but in the end I think it all works reasonably enough.

A suitable tiny vessel for the modern gentleman

She can adapt to your needings and carry whatever you have in mind

The most versatile VTOL ship in the market

Go get yours!

No much else I can say. I think it is a beautiful oldschool concept and a more than nice model. It isn't on general release yet, but when it comes available you should keep an eye on this beauty. Our boards need to populate with those dragonfly wings!!

Love it! The paint scheme you came up with is excellent, because not only does it say "Rogue Trader", but it is also suitability ambiguous as to its purpose. is is a rescue vehicle? Military? transport? could be anything!

It's all in the viewer's eye, hehehe. I didn't want it to be specifically devoted to a single purpose, in the hope that this will give me more freedom when designing scenarios around the ornithopter :)

Hehe, now that you mention it, Hasslefree is preparing a not-Dune line ;). If I'm not mistaken, I think they even got the rights on the Akula ranges. So you may want an Ornithopter too. Well, just saying!! :D

I have to confess that I still haven't finished the wing for Curtis to cast up (as a pair), although I have dug it out and I am determined to finish it in the next few weeks. I'm currently building another of these ornithopters with some added weaponry, and I'll post pictures soon.

OH!!! How did I miss this?? I wasn't aware that the master was your work! Please accept my apologies, I'm editing the blog! I love your work, seriously. The wings proved kinda problematic, I'd love to see the solution you come up with! :)

Excellent paint job on Aiden & Curtis' excellent collaboration. The dirty beaten up white paint is very nice indeed. I envisage many a scenario ending with those insectoid wings beating as the victors evacuate the scene!

Thank you! The model is gorgeous, quite different from the usual, it's been so cool. About the glasses, it's just a way I've found to make them work without much complication. I should try different things on that kind of surfaces, they allow a lot of effects

That's a great piece of work Suber. The simple bits of weathering gives it character, better than without in my opinion. And as for to-do lists, I'm pretty sure most of us will never finish our to-do list in our lifetime unless we stop buying more stuff. :)